The Moldovan Sauna Experience

What is the first thing that comes to mind when I say sauna??? Is it sitting in the sauna at your local gym for 10 minutes after your work out? Or do you see a spa retreat by yourself or with a couple close friends? But in either of the visions is it a personal experience, I mean one that doesn't involve a lot of people or a lively atmosphere? And how often do you sit in a sauna and for how long? Maybe once a year for 10 minutes? Well my friends, I am hear to inform you that I go to the sauna every Thursday afternoon with a group of 6-7 women for three hours. And it isn't a quite pampering time. We bring food, beer, homemade scrubs and masks, and stories of our weeks.

Moldovans (and many Eastern Europeans) see the sauna as a social hour (or three or four). They invite all their friends, strip down to their birthday suits (if you are with the same sex), set out a huge masa (in a different room of course), and sweat it all out for multiple hours. Sauna day is the day I look forward to all week. It is a time when I can go relax and shoot the shit with a group of wonderful women. We start by sitting in the sauna for 45 minutes to an hour, with short breaks in between to jump into the cold pool to cool down. Then we head to the room upstairs to eat and talk for 20 minutes (they drink beer, I drink water-don't want to get too dehydrated). Then we head back into the sauna and start preparing our different masks and scrubs. When we (Becky and I) started going to the sauna we were told each week a different way to prepare our homemade scrub. First it rubbing salt all over your body followed by honey for moisture. The next week we were told salt isn't good because it dries the skin out and that we should mix honey, olive oil, and cornmeal for a great scrub. The third week we were told coffee, sea salt, honey, and oil was the best scrub to make. After all the advice we had received (and of course are still receiving) we have settled on warming the honey in the sauna then mixing it with cornmeal and olive oil. It has worked as a great exfoliant so far. So we apply masks and scrubs for an hour or so before rinsing off and just relaxing in our last hour.

When I first heard about volunteers that had gone to the saunas in Moldova I was a little terrified. My first story was of a volunteer who was dragged to the sauna with his counterpart, made to strip down, sat sweating and drinking the mandatory alcohol (i.e. vodka), and was eventually made to lie down on his stomach while his counterpart beat him with branches. Sound scary????? Well, he loved it!!! The beating of the branches I came to learn is really enjoyable. WHAT?!! Did I just say that?! It's true. What it is is a bunch of smallish branches (with their leaves still attached) tied together, dried, and then dipped in a bucket of warm water. The beater then whacks away at your back, the sticks padded by all the leaves. The leaves are very warm due to sitting in the bucket of warm water warmed in the sauna. The beater can actually whack the beatee pretty hard without it hurting at all. Sometimes we purchase this...hmm, what to call it?...bundle of branches?...and spend time beating eachother's backs, thighs, and feet.

After our three hours we shower, get dressed, and go home. The sauna is very clean (though we all wear our flip flops) and is a normal part of Moldovan life. Many of the saunas get booked up for holiday parties and many people have weekly reservations for the same day and time every week. Unfortunately though the weather is getting warmer and we will soon be ending the weekly tradition for the summer months. However, I hope to build my own sauna back in the States and have weekly sauna "parties".